Eggheads

From a career in Special Forces to raising 300 chickens, Patrick Samuels has taken an unconventional path into the egg industry. Now, as CEO of Sunnyside Egg Co., he's challenging traditional farming practices and working to prove that pasture-raised eggs can be produced on a much larger scale without compromising his vision for regenerative agriculture.Patrick shares how Sunnyside is using mobile chicken coops, regenerative farming practices, and partnerships with local farmers to create a different approach to raising hens. From navigating the challenges of outdoor production to expanding retail distribution and pursuing an ambitious goal of one million birds, it's a story about questioning industry norms, balancing ideals with economics, and proving that doing things differently can also be a viable business strategy.

🎥 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/jexU5-Qo_E0?is=BqH4iXcb-4DddkqVTravis Bybee spent 25 years in banking, all while quietly building toward the life he actually wanted. He bought his first piece of land right out of college and spent the next two decades accumulating 1,400 acres, farming until dark after every shift, with one goal in mind: becoming a full-time farmer. The missing piece turned out to be eggs.In this episode, Greg sits down with Travis to talk about how a chance meeting as a banker—not a farmer—sparked the idea for a layer operation unlike anything his neighbors had seen, and how he used everything he learned financing other people’s farms to build his own.Here’s what we discuss with Travis:• How Travis used 25 years of ag lending to design a better barn than the farmers he was financing• Why eggs were the final puzzle piece that made full-time farming financially viable• The year of research, 40 to 50 barn visits, and hundreds of YouTube videos before breaking ground• Why he GC’d the entire construction himself — and how stressful that actually was• What drew farmers from eight different states to pull into his driveway during construction• The open house that drew over 1,000 people before a single bird arrived• What a day in the life looks like running two 50,000-bird barns alongside a cattle and hay operation• Faith, family, and farm — and what it means to build a life around all three---For more information about Eggheads visit https://aginstallers.com/ag-installers-eggheads-podcast/

In rural America, grain bins are so ubiquitous that you might not even notice them on the landscape. But if you were to stop on your drive home and take a closer look at one, there's a good chance you'd see the name 'Sukup' written on the side. Steve Sukup is the Chairman of Sukup Manufacturing. Back in 1963, the company started off making grain stirrers, but they've since expanded their offerings to become one of the world's largest manufacturers of grain storage, drying, and handling equipment. Steve joins us to explain why grain bins are such an integral part of American animal agriculture — including the egg industry, and how a commitment to innovation, along with a willingness to take risks, has led to incredible success. 

Burnbrae Farms first got into egg farming in the 1940's, when Joe Hudson, who was just 13 years old at the time, brought home 50 chickens to establish a backyard flock. Today, Joe's daughter, Margaret Hudson, serves as President and CEO of Burnbrae, which has long-since outgrown the backyard, and become the largest egg producer in Canada.Margaret joins us to discuss how her and her family kept building on what Joe started, including turning a low value egg byproduct into a national brand, funding research behind one of Canada's early omega-3 products and even helping major retailers rethink how they manage the egg category.

It doesn't matter how hard-working you are as a farmer, if you don't have the right genetics in your flock, it's going to be difficult to have success in the egg game. But as the industry evolves, and the needs of consumers change, deciding which birds are the right fit for your farm has become much more complex. Neal Martin is the General Manager of US distribution at Hendrix Genetics. He joins us today for a bit of a history lesson of how the poultry genetics business has evolved — and consolidated — over the years, the incredibly complicated logistics of getting hens to layers when they need them, and all of the different attributes you can get chickens to express through selective breeding.